Exclusive | We're here to stay, Eric Salama

Over the last week, we have read enough about the developments happening on the measurement system. There have been some key bodies that have been a part of this.

TAM has been silent for a while now. In order to get more insights on the developments we at Adgully caught up with Eric Salama, CEO Kantar Media.

Adgully (AG): AAAI has advised agencies  in India to discontinue with TAM. Have agencies indicated to you about their discontinuation?
Eric Salama (ES): Yes, we have had some cancellations.

AG: Do you see your subscribers moving towards this direction?
ES: I'm sure some of them will, but that they will reassess once they see the data that starts to come out of BARC.

AG: Do you think certain stake holders might subscribe to two measurement bodies?
ES: There are lots of services that they will not be able to buy from BARC which they will continue to buy from us.

AG: Can the two systems co-exist?
ES: Yes and I think that competition will raise standards overall. But in the long term trading is hard when there are two currencies in the market.

AG: Over the years what have been the challenges TAM has faced in India? What measures have you taken to address the same?
ES: We've had to deal with media fragmentation and digital switchover - both of these have required investment in more technology and bigger panels.  India is a huge country and the logistics of running panels is different to other countries.  The otherwise is that there are constant threats to panel integrity with people trying to find out who panelists are and trying to influence people - we have done a huge amount to prevent this becoming an issue but we need more help from the government to prosecute those people and put them in jail, in the way that is do don china.

AG: Do you face challenges in international markets? If so, what are the challenges that you face?
ES: Of course. We need to follow the audience as they move from platform to platform and measure content on TV, computer, tablet, mobile, TV player in the way that we are now doing in seven markets around the world including sophisticated ones such as UK.  We need to blend panel and census data so that we can better measure niche channels.  And we need national representation for our panels.  We are working on all these in markets as diverse as UK, India and Brazil.

AG: How does TAM have an edge over the new system?
ES: We have proven technology, proven systems, history and an understanding of the ratings.  It's our business, we live and die by it and we will invest to make sure that we are up to date in terms of technology and how to measure audiences.  This isn't BARC’s business and they aren't plugged into the latest developments or able to keep up to date.  We will see if they can solve today's problems, they have no mechanism for solving tomorrow's. 

AG:  Going forward, what in your view will be TAM's role in India?
ES: We will be a key player in an evolving industry. We have no intention of packing up our bags and stopping. We are here to stay.

AG: There were reports on BARC investing in TAM. How far is that true?
ES: We are happy to cooperate with BARC , we are not and have not been in any discussions to sell the TAM business to BARC.

Disclaimer: We had received the responses prior to the development of BARC investing in TAM. However, when asked about this development to TAM and BARC both of them refused to comment yesterday. Sources confirmed with us that discussions have been going on, but they’re still inconclusive about the same. By Archit Ambekar | Twitter: @aambarchit